Good evening,

It’s time for bidders circling the $3 billion North Queensland Airports to get cracking.

Street Talk understands sell-side adviser Macquarie Capital lobbed a process letter on Monday at interested parties, letting them know non-binding indicative offers were due to be submitted just before Easter.

The auction’s expected to play out over the next six months, with NQA owners, Macquarie-run The Infrastructure Fund and JPMorgan Infrastructure Partners, hoping to have the sale consummated by July, according to the letter.

As reported, Japanese trading giant Sojitz Corporation and bid partner Japan Airlines, advised by Greenhill, are among the parties expected to emerge in NQA’s data room as it seeks to gauge whether the $3 billion price tag stacks up. Then there’s France’s Vinci, which has been itching to add an Australian airport to its expansive global portfolio since at least 2019 when it lost the auction for Hobart Airport.

Vinci ploughed through Queensland Airports Limited’s due diligence materials last year but tapped out without submitting a first-round bid owing to vendors’ price expectations. It’s yet to sign up a buy-side adviser for NQA and is close to both Lazard and Rothschild.

There’s also Global Infrastructure Partners, which pulled out of QAL before non-binding bids were due, but is understood to be weighing NQA’s prospects.

Read more: North Queensland Airport kicks off $3 billion sale; first-round bids in April

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